BOONTON — In the summer, movies tend to get a little ... predictable. Big things blow up. Big stars flash their pretty smiles and flex their sculpted muscles. And occasionally a schizophrenic American tries to convince the people of a Finnish town the murderous yeti who has been wreaking havoc with their lives is just a man in a costume.

You know, typical stuff.

"Frostbite" will be at the Darress Theatre in Boonton Saturday.

Bridget Machete wrote "Frostbite" as junior at NYU. Immediately, she was told by peers and educators it wasn't like anything they'd encountered before. Industry professionals at the school encouraged her to make a go of it — to turn her idea into a full-length film.

So that's what she has done. From January to March, with a cast of actors that includes her boyfriend from Lincoln Park (6-foot-3-inch Vinny Iuspain) in a yeti costume, Machete and collaborators shot the movie in locations scattered throughout New Jersey and upstate New York.

The film will have its New Jersey premiere at 7 p.m. Saturday, at a screening at the Darress Theatre in Boonton. Tickets are $5.

The movie was also shown June 15 in Nyack, New York, using a lower-resolution copy of the film.

"I didn't expect so many people to come — it was kind of a big deal," Machete said.

The NYU graduate never made it to Finland, but she said the woods of New York and New Jersey — largely around the Lincoln Park area, for the latter — proved a surprisingly good substitute. She found luscious trees, layers of snow — even ice fishermen.

"I fooled a lot of people. More than half of the film is supposed to be in Finland, but a lot of times, I just went out into the woods with my camera and my boyfriend and the yeti suit," she said.

In "Frostbite," Jake Elomaa is told he and his family are moving to Finland after Jake's grandfather dies, and leaves a manor to his family. Jake learns about the urban legends surrounding a wild Yeti, supposedly killing village people. He comes into contact with a man in a Yeti suit, and must convince his family and the village residents it's all a hoax — but no one believes him, because of his mental illness.

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"Frostbite" isn't Machete's first full-length movie, but she said it's the first she'd ever want to show anyone. Her earlier films were student projects — filmed at friend's houses, or with quick shots at various neighborhood locations without real authorization.

For "Frostbite," she took things a bit more seriously. She's got a team of collaborators, she rented locations for use, and she put intense planning into her shoot.

She knew some of the actors prior to their involvmenet in the film, but held a casting call for the rest. Most are from New York or New Jersey, including one of the leads, Brandon Bolton, who lives near the Darress in Boonton.

Machete herself lives in Pearl River, N.Y. about three houses away from the "Welcome to Montvale" sign leading her into New Jersey, she said.

"I'm really glad how it turned out," she said. "I'm going to have a new editor touch up the sound ... but I think it looks great. I think it really captures all the moments."

Machete next plans to use proceeds from the screenings to submit her film to festivals, hoping to reach a wider audience.